Latest Posts by the-sleepy-chemist - Page 2

You may be surprised about what you are ACTUALLY eating!

A reminder that the inside of the cell is as beautiful as outer space.

Digital Renders by Evan Ingersoll & Gael McGill

Paintings by David Goodsell

Corrugated Liomera - Liomera rugata

This ultra-pinkish crab (actually magenta) is scientifically named Liomera rugata (Decapoda - Xanthidae), a species which inhabits in coral reefs of the Red Sea, Tahiti, Hawaii, Philippines, China Sea, Japan, India and French Polynesia. It is also commonly known as Corrugated Crab due to the visible granules that cover the surface of carapace.

References: [1] - [2]

Photo credit: ©Todd Aki | Locality: Hilo, Hawaii (2014)

Cyanea capillata by Alexander Semenov 

The Oldest Ancestor of Modern Birds Has Been Found in China

Ever since the birdlike dinosaur Archaeopteryx was first discovered in 1861, paleontologists have tried to decipher the evolutionary origins of modern birds—the only surviving descendants of the dinosaurs.

Now, paleontologists based out of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have reached a new milestone in this quest. The CAS team has discovered the oldest fossils from the Ornithuromorpha group of dinosaurs, the common ancestor of all modern bird species.

The two specimens date back 130 million years to the Early Cretaceous period, when pterosaurs still dominated the skies. They belong to a new species named Archaeornithura meemannae, a feathered wading bird that lived in what is now northeastern China. The CAS team, led by paleontologist Min Wang, published a detailed analysis of the new specimens today in Nature Communications.

Continue Reading.

Saturn’s sponge-like moon Hyperion by europeanspaceagency on Flickr.

Flower Mushroom Coral - Ricordea yuma

Ricordea yuma (Corallimorpharia - Ricordeidae) is a species of soft coral belonging to a group commonly referred to as mushroom corals. These soft corals are very popular among aquarists due to their vibrant and varied color patterns. 

Ricordea yuma is found in the tropical Pacific. Like other Corallimopharians, this one has the ability to rapidly colonize available substrate.

References: [1] - [2] - [3]

Photo credits: [Top: ©Felix Salazar | Locality: nano reef tank, 2008] - [Bottom: ©Scott Cohen | Locality: reef tank, 2009]

Drugs Under The Microscope

Science never goes out of STYLE! And we prove it with this scientific a capella cover song!

Submitted by asapscience.

Submit some science here! :)

We Are Built To Be Kind

Greed is good. War is inevitable. Cooperation is for suckers. 

Whether in political theory or popular culture, human nature is often portrayed as selfish and power hungry. UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner challenges this notion of human nature and seeks to better understand why we evolved pro-social emotions like empathy, compassion and gratitude.

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I Recently read About these amazing glow in the dark creatures in the newspapers and thought it was worth sharing 1. Saprobe Panellus Stipticus, Fungi:

Found in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America, the bio-luminescence emitted by the Saprobe fungi that grows on decaying wood...

Maple syrup could help fight bacterial infections, Canadian scientists find

Maple syrup is once again making headlines for being the rockstar condiment that every Canadian knows it is, but it’s not the culinary world that’s buzzing this time — it’s the medical world. Newly released research from McGill University in Montreal suggests that concentrated maple syrup extract may actually help fight bacterial infections, potentially reducing the need for antibiotics around the world. “Combining maple syrup extract with common antibiotics could increase the microbes’ susceptibility, leading to lower antibiotic usage,” reads a press release issued by the university Friday. “Overuse of antibiotics fuels the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria, which has become a major public-health concern worldwide.”

Continue Reading.

Beautiful Winged Insects Made of Discarded Circuit Boards by Julie Alice Chappell

Aurora - Nutirwik Creek, Brooks Range, Alaska | by Fred Wasmer

Calcium Carbide: Playing with Acetylene flames

Calcium carbide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula of CaC2. Its main use industrially is in the production of acetylene and calcium cyanamide. 

The pure material is colorless, however pieces of technical-grade calcium carbide are grey or brown and consist of about 80–85% of CaC2 (the rest is CaO (calcium oxide), Ca3P2 (calcium phosphide), CaS (calcium sulfide), Ca3N2 (calcium nitride), SiC (silicon carbide), etc.). In the presence of trace moisture, technical-grade calcium carbide emits an unpleasant odor reminiscent of garlic.

Applications of calcium carbide include manufacture of acetylene gas, and for generation of acetylene in carbide lamps, manufacture of chemicals for fertilizer; and in steelmaking.

The reaction of calcium carbide with water, producing acetylene and calcium hydroxide, was discovered by Friedrich Wöhler in 1862.

Reaction with Water:

CaC2+ 2 H2O → C2H2+ Ca(OH)2

possible incomplete combustion occurring:

3C2H2 + 4O2   →2C + 3CO + CO2 + 3H2O

Giffed by: rudescience  From: This video

Imperial Tortoise Beetle - Stolas imperialis

With only 6-12 mm in length, the Imperial Tortoise Beetle, Stolas imperialis (Coleoptera - Chrysomelidae), is truly astonishing by the intense blue color of its body and its elytral punctuation. This species, which is one of 181 that are grouped in the genus Stolas, is poorly known and only registered from Brazil.

References: [1] - [2] - [3]

Photo credit: ©Sergio Monteiro | Locality: Santa Catarina, Brazil (2014)

Happiness Molecule

High Current/Amps through metal

Any metal that can conduct low voltage / high amperage electricity acts as a resistor between two electrode wires (as in the case above), which are made out of copper, which has a better conductivity than iron/steel which heats up due to the extreme electrical resistance. 

Copper (Cu):

Resistivity: ρ(Ω·m) at 20ºC = 1.68×10−8

Conductivity: σ (S/m) at 20ºC = 5.96×107 

Temp. Coefficient:  0.003862 (K−1)

Iron (Fe): (although what you see in the gif is steel, iron comes pretty close)

Resistivity: ρ(Ω m) at 20ºC = 1.00×10−7

Conductivity: σ (S/m) at 20ºC = 1.00×107

Temp. Coefficient: 0.005 (K−1)

Giffed by: rudescience  From: This video

A scientific parody of Do you wanna build a snowman? from Disney’s Frozen. Lyrics by hyacynthus and myself. Vocals by me. A music video may be forthcoming.

20 THINGS YOU SHOULD DO EVERYDAY 1. Wake up earlier. Not only does this improve productivity but it also gives you more time to make a good, hearty breakfast. 2. Make your bed. Let’s be real, being welcomed to a tidy bed after a long day at work/school (or a long day in general) is probably the best feeling anyone will ever experience. 3. If you want, spend a little more time on your appearance. Take some time choosing an outfit, applying make up or whatever. Do what helps you boost your confidence and self-esteem. 4. Stay hydrated, folks. Keep a bottle of water with you wherever you go. 5. Stretch everyday or start yoga (or do both, why not?) 6. Create a playlist consisting of songs that make you happy and listen to it. Listen to songs for the mood you want to be in, instead of the mood you are in. 7. Compliment at least one person per day. This could be an acquaintance, co-worker, class mate, stranger, whoever! 8. Use your manners. If someone holds the door for you, lets you go first etc, they did it voluntarily and didn’t have to do it, so a “thank you” wouldn’t hurt. 9. Eat your fruit and vegetables and always choose the healthy version over the junk food. 10. Have a good laugh. Catch up with friends, watch some ‘Parks and Recreation’, go see some stand-up comedy, reminisce about funny moments that have happened to you. You don’t need to be a doctor to know that humour has many benefits. 11. Be optimistic. Always look at the positives. There’s no point on focusing on the negatives because that isn’t going to help anyones mood at all. 12. Exercise. It doesn’t have to be anything to intense. A run around the block, a walk with your dog or even a ‘Just Dance’ session will do the job.  13.Bring a book/magazine or collect the daily newspaper with you. Spend you spare time reading. 14. Try and learn something new everyday. This can either be an interesting fact you saw online or a new skill someone taught you. 15. Help others when you are able to. Help your classmates with school work or offer to help you struggling neighbour lift those heavy objects. 16. Stop procrastinating. No matter how unmotivated you are to, push yourself and complete what you need to complete. Do what you gotta do. You know you’ll love yourself for doing it. 17. Drink some tea, because that stuff is goooooood (and also beneficial). 18.Make time to do things that help you relax, whether that’s painting, having baths, doing you nails or going for a run. 19. Don’t dwell on your mistakes, but instead grow and learn from them. 20. And lastly, be kind to yourself. If you love who you are, everyone else will

Chloe for Native Moon Magazine (via nativemoonmag)

Feathertail Centipedes are an entire genus of centipedes from eastern Africa.

Their hindmost legs are amazing, bizarre and rather beautiful. They’re extremely long, often brightly coloured and always flattened into strange feather shapes.

The centipede uses these crazy legs to warn predators and other interfering beasts of their venomous presence.

Waving the legs from side to side causes them to emit a kind of rustling sound as one patch of leg rubs up against another patch of the same leg. It’s sort of like how crickets sing by rubbing their wings together.

They don’t, however, rub one leg against the other. Each leg makes the noise on its own… in more ways than one. The centipede can lop off one of its special legs and it will keep waving around making noise. Hopefully it will prove distracting enough that the Feathertail can make an escape.

It makes you wonder… how long before we get flying centipedes?

…Images: Frupus

Successful people dare to fail but refuse to be defeated by failure

(via aslam1)

Giant Centipede - Scolopendra subspinipes

Scolopendra subspinipes (Scolopendromorpha - Scolopendridae) is a really huge and fast growing centipede that can exceed 20 cm in length. They are voracious, strictly carnivores, and also poisonous, feeding mostly on small insects, spiders, earthworms, and other arthropods.

Scolopendra subspinipes is cosmopolitan in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, where these animals serve an ecologically important role as soil and leaf litter predators.

The sting of this centipede reportedly causes intense pain, burning, swelling, and erythema.

References: [1] - [2] - [3]

Photo credit: ©Melvyn Yeo | Locality: not indicated (2013) 

Moon Night Mushroom (Tsukiyotake) - Omphalotus japonicus

A spectacular photo of the bioluminescent fruiting bodies of the mushrooms scientifically named Omphalotus japonicus (Marasmiaceae), glowing in the darkness.

The glowing fungi grow on wood and their light is visible at night. Luminous higher fungi emit greenish light with a maximum emission in the range of 520–530 nm. A luminous taxon emits light in only a certain period of its life cycle; before and after that period, it generally does not glow.

Omphalotus japonicus is known from Japan and other sites in East Asia, where it is regarded as a poisonous mushroom. 

Synonymous: Lampteromyces japonicus

References: [1] - [2]

Photo credit: ©Jun Kobayashi | Locality: Toyota-shi, Aichi Prefecture, Japan (2014)

daniel stoupin, a doctoral candidate in marine biology at the university of queensland, has photographed a variety of coral species from the great barrier reef using full spectrum light to reveal fluorescent pigments that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye.

coral growth rates in the great barrier reef have plummeted 40 percent in the last 40 years, a result, according to a recent study, of increased ocean acidification. 

since the beginning of the industrial revolution, about one third of the carbon dioxide that has been released into the atmosphere as a result of fossil fuels has been absorbed by the oceans, where it in turn prevents coral from using a mineral called aragonite to make their calcified skeletons. 

new modelling has also shown that if ocean waters continue to warm by even one degree, which most now see as unstoppable, the coverage of corals on the great barrier reef could decline to less than 10 percent, which is a level too low for the reef to mount a recovery. 

further complicating matters for the coral is the plastic detritus left by humans which now litter the oceans and which the coral now consume. unable to expel the plastic bits and thus take in nutrients, the coral slowly starve. a recent study found that each square kilometre of australia’s sea surface water is contaminated with approximately 4,000 pieces of tiny plastic.

The Tsars’s vodka in action. Aqua regia or Царская водка in Russian is a 3/1 mixture of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid.

Upon mixing concentrated hydrochloric acid and concentrated nitric acid a chemical reactions occurs. The product of the reaction is nitrosyl chloride and chlorine as evidenced by the fuming nature and characteristic yellow color of aqua regia. In this case the dissolved copper and other transition metals turned the color of the solution deep green, but the gas over the solution is yellow from the chlorine and nitrous fumes.

Interesting fact about the Nobel prize and the dissolution of gold:

When Nazi Germany occupied Denmark from April 1940, during World War II, György de Hevesy dissolved the gold Nobel Prizes of Max von Laue and James Franck with aqua regia; it was illegal at the time to send gold out of the country, and were it discovered that Laue and Franck had done so to prevent them from being stolen, they could have faced prosecution in Germany. He placed the resulting solution on a shelf in his laboratory at the Niels Bohr Institute. After the war, he returned to find the solution undisturbed and precipitated the gold out of the acid. The Nobel Society then recast the Nobel Prizes using the original gold.

George de Hevesy got his Noble Prize in Chemistry for ”for his work on the use of isotopes as tracers in the study of chemical processes” in 1943.

Max von Laue got his Nobel Prize in Physics for ”for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals” in 1914.

James Franck got his Nobel Prize in Physics ”for his discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom” in 1925.

Bobbit Worm. By: ken & anita’s photos

The Bobbit worm, Eunice aphroditois, is a ferocious underwater predator. Armed with sharp teeth, it is known to attack with such speeds that its prey is sometimes sliced in half. Though they do vary in size, they have been recorded to grow up to nine feet tall. 

Sea Slug - Phyllodesmium serratum 

Phyllodesmium serratum (Nudibranchia - Facelinidae) is a colorful species of sea slug known from Japan, Philippines and Australia, whose color is dependent on the color of the food it is eating.

As seen in the photo, it has branched digestive glands that ramify into the cerata and dorsal surface of the body.

Although one of the most interesting adaptations found in this genus is the widespread participation in a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae), P. serratum does not have such a relationship, and is unusual in feeding on a wide variety of octocorals.

References: [1] - [2] - [3]

Photo credit: ©Klaus Stiefel (CC BY-NC 2.0) | Locality: Kurnell, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (2013)

Psychology: Why do people do the thing?

Sociology: How do people who do the thing interact with other people who do the thing?

Anthropology: Who else has done/is doing the thing and where are they?

Philosophy: What is the meaning of the thing? Where did the thing come from?

Viscosity can have a notable effect on droplet impacts. This poster demonstrates with snapshots from three droplet impacts. The blue drops are dyed water, and the red ones are a more viscous water-glycerol mixture. When the two water droplets impact, a skirt forms between them, then spreads outward into a sheet with a thicker, uneven rim before retracting. The second row shows a water droplet impacting a water-glycerol droplet. The less viscous water droplet deforms faster, wrapping around and mixing into the other drop before rebounding in a jet. The last row switches the impacts, with the more viscous drop falling onto the water. As in the previous case, the water deforms faster than the water-glycerol. The two mix during spreading and rebound slower. In the last timestep shown, the droplet is still contracting, but it does rebound as a jet thereafter. (Image credit: T. Fanning et al.)